“Party for Freedom” launches website to report on foreigners

Sadly, this xenophobic website was launched today by the Dutch “Party for Freedom” (PVV). It says:

“Do you have trouble/nuisance from Central or Eastern European nationals? Or have you lost your job because of a Pole, Bulgarian, Romanian or other Central or Eastern European? … Submit your story here: http://tinyurl.com/7cwzdqx”

Here is what the report form says:

"Is there trouble/nuisance with noise, nuisance parking, drunkenness, degeneration, other with explanation."

"Is there job loss, with the industry and type of work."

Here is what some of the newspaper headlines at the top say:

"Wouldn't it be better if you went back?"

"Poles, Bulgarians and Romanians rise in crime rates"

"Eastern Europeans are becoming more criminal"

"Mobile gangs of Eastern Europeans en masse towards west"

"Shameless thieves"

What is very scary is that this party received over 15% of the votes in the 2010 election, and its founder, Gert Wilders is part of the coalition government. Obviously fascism is still a big problem in the Netherlands. Here is a link to an article in English about it: http://tinyurl.com/7y7j7x3

Here is what Geert Wilders says with his photo: "Reduce the nuisance. Report it here".

It's very xenophobic, but you know what? About three hundred thousand Poles are registered as working in the Netherlands; about 10% of the total Dutch work force. That's close in size to that of the largest minority groups in the Netherlands; Germans, Moroccans, Turks, and most of those Poles are of working age.

while I'm sure there are more than a few Polish surgeons working in the Netherlands, the stereotype of a Polish employee is that of someone employed in construction, transportation, or agriculture. All sectors that are having a bit of a hard time right now.

So, how many Dutch employees have lost their jobs due to Polish competition? Quite a few, I suspect. Potential PVV voters, if they aren't already. The PVV is looking out for the interests of their target demographic. It may be opportunistic, but it's also the very thing a political party is supposed to do.

While I'd probably be happy if we could keep these new Polish inhabitants, and expel the PVV voters to Poland, the Dutch democracy doesn't work that way; Jobless welfare recipients get to vote in the national elections; hard-working Poles don't. That may be a failing of our system (I know that the Afrikaner states founded in what is now South Africa gave voting rights to immigrants--didn't keep them from being overrun by the British in the Boer war).

I’m not shocked that there are perceived problems with immigration, but asking people to report on foreigners is just going way too far. This is only going to inflame an already volatile situation, and will incite hatred and discrimination against a group of people.

In the last court case against Wilders he was acquitted of charges of inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims because it amounted to criticism of a religion, rather than people, and therefore was not illegal.

On the website it clearly states that Central and Eastern European people “MOE-landers” as they call them, lead to many problems, especially the Poles. According to the website “This massive work immigration [by Central and Eastern European people] leads to many problems; nuisance, pollution, crowding on the job market and integration and housing problems.”

Asking people to report on foreigners is clearly trying to foment violence and division. How can Wilders and the PWW not be convicted of inciting hatred and discrimination against Central or Eastern Europeans this time around?

This will be yet another case for the United Nations Human Rights Committee about the Netherlands failing to protect ethnic minorities from discrimination.

Imagine if the report form said “Is there trouble/nuisance from [women, blacks, jews, homosexuals, the Dutch – fill in the blank] with noise, nuisance parking, drunkenness, degeneration, other [fill in the blank]”.

Even the website URL is cause for concern. Imagine if the URL was one of the following and the report only asked negative questions:

How can Wilders and the PWW not be convicted of inciting hatred and discrimination against Central or Eastern Europeans this time around?

If he were to be convicted of something like that, it'd give the impression that the political establishment is trying to stifle dissent. As long as the political establishment is afraid of him, they'll choose to protect their own reputation, rather than the reputation of ethnic minorities.

Let's also note that 84,5% of the voters (those who actually bothered to vote) did NOT vote for the PVV. That's a huge majority, which is unfortunately not reflected in the current coalition government.

@pepec
That's an interesting site - apparently they have a 95% success rate with their requests for removal. I wonder what they would make of a report of the new pvv site? There's one way to find out, I suppose ...

Here is another site that you can report discrimination on https://www.discriminatie.nl/ I'm going to give all of them a try.

So far, the Dutch government response seems to be that it's the business of the PWW, and therefore, not something they are willing to get involved with. Allowing discrimination is almost as bad as comitting it -- we should expect more out of the government than this lame response.

This time Wilders and the PWW attacked EU members -- this could get very interesting, and may finally force the Dutch government to take action.

Here is another one: INACH, the International Network Against Cyberhate is to combat discrimination on the Internet. http://www.inach.net/complaints.html

send your complaint to complaints@inach.net and we'll re-route it to the relevant bureau or tell you if we will take action. Please provide us with: Your e-mail address Your name (optional) The exact location of the discriminatory expression(s) you are complaining about, (URL, newsgroup name or other location) A short description of the expression, or a copy of the material included in your mail or attached to it. TAKE note: we do NOT process generic complaints (meaning without an exact location) about websites or webfora

This is another "report" site. The site to report discrimination on the internet.

This is their mail adress meldpunt@meldpunt.nl

i guess you can do it in English. You have to include the site where the discrimination is to be found.

I sent the following e-mail to Meldpunt Discriminatie Internet (meldpunt@meldpunt.nl)

I find the website http://www.meldpuntmiddenenoosteuropeanen.nl launched by the PWW to ask people to report on Central and Eastern Europeans discriminatory and it is inciting hatred in The Netherlands for all foreigners.

As a foreigner I feel that these attacks by Geert Wilders and the PVV are trying to foment violence and division against all foreigners in The Netherlands.

Meldpunt Discriminatie Internet wrote back:

The Dutch Internet Discrimination Hotline (MDI) handles complaints about discriminatory material on the Dutch part of the Internet. The MDI evaluates content on the basis of the anti-discrimination provisions in the Dutch Criminal Code. If the MDI assesses an expression as illegal, usually a request for removal is sent to the owner of a site.

The MDI has received several reports about the so-called hotline Central and Eastern Europeans established by the Dutch Freedom Party, located at www.meldpuntmiddenenoosteuropeanen.nl.We consider this to be a very suggestive initiative but the site does not conflict with the anti-discrimination provisions of the Criminal Code. In order to achieve criminality, there must be a defamatory or insulting statement against a population group based on their race, religion or belief, sexual orientation or physical, mental or intellectual disabilities. The establishment of a hotline for complaints about Central and Eastern Europeans can in itself not be regarded as an insulting or defamatory statement. Moreover, none of the content on the website can be regarded as discriminatory. Therefore, we cannot take action.

I wrote back the following, but don't see much chance in it:

I am surprised that anti-discrimination provisions of the Criminal Code does not include defamatory or insulting statement against a population group based on nationality. I thought the Equal Treatment Act (Algemene Wet Gelijke Behandeling) entered into force in 1994, was extended to include nationality.